Native History Celebrated Large

Only months old, the First Americans Museum in Oklahoma City is dedicated to truth-telling.

- By Jana Bommersbach, Photography courtesy First Americans Museum

It was once called Indian Territory, a dumping ground as tribe after tribe was forced off their Eastern lands and settled in this Western spot. When it found a name, two Choctaw words were used, meaning Red People: Okla and Homma.

In 1907 it became the 46th state, and in 2021, it proudly proclaimed its Native history with the opening of the First Americans Museum in Oklahoma City.

“One place, many nations,” it declares, as it presents the collective history of the 39 distinct Native Nations in the state today. Outside of Alaska, Oklahoma has the highest relative population percentage of Indigenous people based on state population.

“Here is where you’ll hear authentic voices,” says Ginny Underwood, a Comanche who is marketing director at the museum. “You hear ‘we and us’ not ‘they and them.’”